Delhi Traffic Police To Start E-Challans System By September

The Delhi Traffic Police is working on an E-Challan system, which will digitize the process of issuing challans for traffic violations, reports The Hindustan Times. The system is expected to be rolled out by Septeber 2011, following which, traffic police men would be equipped with a connected device, most likely, a PDA, which would enable them to issue challans electronically. It will also let them trace, if the violator is a repeat offender from an online database, which will maintain records of violations. In addition to this, the Delhi Traffic Police also wants the device to be capable of accepting credit card payments for challans.

According to the report, DTP has called for expression of interest from the makers of such devices, and after testing them for a month, it will call for tenders. This is not the first time that it has announced an e-challan system. In January 2009, there were similar reports, and it was said that the Delhi traffic police had even placed an order for 650 such devices. However, we did not get to hear more about it.

Other Deployments

– The Punjab Police rolled out an e-challan pilot in Mohali, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana with 10 GPRS enabled devices in each city, in January 2011.

– The Chennai Traffic Police has also proposed an e-challan system, and intends to deploy 200 devices.

– Hyderabad and Bangalore have already implemented it. Bangalore has a BlackBerry enabled traffic enforcement system, which is connected with the State data centre.

Enforcement?

Besides automating challan-issuing process, the system not only helps in tracking repeat offenders but can also be used to determine offense patterns, as well as to track performance of traffic police officials. They should also extend the benefits to citizens, enabling them to check their challans and pay them online, as well.

It is understandable that the process can only be implemented in a gradual, phased manner, considering the size of Indian cities, in area and population(both human and vehicular). Just like any other technology driven process, this one is also susceptible to manipulation and tampering. So, at the end of the day, it all depends on how the authorities enforce the system.